Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

atlasmb Released in post-war 1947, "T-Men" is about two employees of the Treasury Department, back when it had a wider scope, including taxes, borders, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service. Counterfeiting was under its purview, and the film is a story about two agents who infiltrate the mob to stop its distribution of counterfeit money and revenue stamps.The B&W cinematography has been called "noir", and rightfully so, despite the film's intrusive voice-overs and a documentarian presentation that includes a message from the Treasury Department itself. Thankfully, the acting is good and the camera work is stylish. After a slow start, the film becomes more interesting.Watch for the cameo by June Lockhart.Without the numerous voice-overs, "T-Men" would have been a much better film. Still, it performed well at the box office, and its success led to a CBS radio show.

evanston_dad I didn't realize that director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton were considered to be a famous film noir team until very recently, and when I did it just happened that I had two of their partnerships in my house at the same time: "T-Men" and "Border Incident." "T-Men" came out in 1947, right about the time a docu-drama sub-genre of film noir emerged. These films were always fictional recreations of true stories and had an element of the newsreel about them -- stentorian voice-over narration giving us little history lessons about some social problem or other and prologues featuring montages of real locations that gave the films the patina of a social service. But once this obligatory beginning to "T-Men" is disposed with, the film settles into a tight and suspenseful story about two treasury department agents who infiltrate a counterfeit money operation. It's obvious why Mann and Alton were such a great combination -- the compositions and chiaroscuro cinematography in this film are its greatest assets. There are some real surprises (like the death of a major character) and some memorable set pieces (like a murder in a Turkish steam bath). I don't know that it joins the ranks of my favorite noirs, but it certainly earns its place as a more than respectable addition to the genre."T-Men" was rather inexplicably nominated for a Best Sound Recording Oscar in 1947, even more notable because there were only three entries in that category that year (the winner was "The Bishop's Wife").Grade: A-

secondtake T-Men (1947)The official "government" voice of god narration is overwhelming here, and for me it kills the film. The photography is dramatic to the point of desperation--almost to make up for the stiffness of the rest of it, and I'm okay with a dull movie as long as it looks good. It doesn't make this a good movie, however, just one with lots of amazing scenes, well shot.There is, of course, an important narrative here, as "T-Men" go after bad guys, going undercover and so on. Some of the scenes, as the narrator blabs on, are amazing--really terrific light, all different parts of the city including Chinatown, some steam baths, lots of dark interiors, a boxing ring, etc. There is some good roughing up going on, tough talk back and forth, and a gradually trust/distrust game as the T-Men infiltrate a counterfeiting ring.The director is the admired Anthony Mann. Mann's noirs and westerns are both laced with a darkness that makes them really good, a cut above most of the others at least in the way he avoids blandness. That's worth a lot. And when this movie really gets going (after about half an hour, when the narrator recedes, though never disappears), it gets better.

robert-temple-1 Anthony Mann here delivers another one of his superior noir films. The much-underrated leading man Dennis O'Keefe is terrific here. He is like a taller and tougher Alan Ladd, without the smile. This film is one of the 'investigation procedural' films of the period, complete with patronising narrator who explains to us what people we are watching are doing. 'T-Men' seems a corny title, but it is not about cartoon characters, 'T' stands for Treasury, and this is a tale of United States Treasury secret service agents infiltrating and busting a massive counterfeit ring in California. There are some crisp lines, and some lateral thinking in the story: 'If we are investigating Los Angeles, we will start in Detroit to avoid suspicion'. The story is based on real Treasury cases, and was made with the Treasury's full cooperation. We certainly learn a lot about paper quality (percentage of cotton, percentage of linen), engraved plates, photo processes, and we are almost ready to start our own presses tomorrow, except of course that crime does not pay, at least when Dennis O'Keefe is around. The next year, Anthony Mann would make 'Raw Deal', so he kept getting better. There was always plenty of tension with that Mann on the job.